Tag Archives: Marathon Training

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So my last report wasn’t… the best, happiest update. I was struggling with back pain, and right on the eve of the Boston Marathon, a race I’ve been dreaming about for SEVEN YEARS. Today I finally got the results of my MRI and confirmed the diagnosis…

Where to start? I’ve asked myself so many times in the past few weeks to put together the timeline… when was the beginning of all this? Christmas. I’m pretty sure. But probably before then. Let’s just start there. My husband and I went to Orangetheory in his hometown over the holidays. It felt great to sweat but after the rowing portion of the class, my lower back felt a little tweaked. I had been trying to use good form, engaging my core, etc. etc. so I decided that my historically, notoriously tight hip flexors must have pulled something in my back when I was rowing. My back hurt for a week or two — longer than I expected, but everything felt muscular. I didn’t think much of it and proceeded with my life…

I am finally getting back into a groove after my move to Colorado and weeks of home improvement tasks. I even when to Orangetheory this week for the first time in way too long. It was tough — way tougher than when I was going regularly — but it was so, so good to be back. Definitely planning to go more often, especially as we have these rainy and colder days of fall. Maybe I’ll even do Hell Week this year… Anyway, the purpose of this post is to recap some (but not all!) of the fun running and hiking adventures I’ve had over the past several weeks: (1) completing the Boulder Skyline Traverse (previously mentioned here); (2) summitting Mt. Bierstadt (our 2nd 14er); (3) summitting Grays and Torreys Peaks (our 3rd and 4th 14ers); and (4) joining the Boulder Trail Runners for one of their infamous Sunday “Church” runs. Also don’t forget you can stay up to date on these adventures and much more on Instagram. Let’s dig in…

We have all been told that — contrary to conventional wisdom — it is really hard to lose weight while training for a marathon. In fact, a lot of people gain weight when they up their training mileage. Personally, after 21 marathon training cycles, I know these struggles all too well. (There may be people out there who start running and watch the pounds melt off; I am not one of them.) But I also think it is pretty unhelpful to say “It can’t be done,” and as I recently learned while completing a cut on the RP diet and simultaneously training for a BQ-pace marathon, it can be done.

Hi all. Here is a quick check-in on my recovery after Phoenix and my training as I start looking forward to my next race, the Big Sur Marathon on the beautiful California coast! Check out my full race calendar and completed races at the updated map!

Just after Thanksgiving, I started a 12-week cut on the Renaissance Periodization diet. I previously wrote about it here, and some RP “hacks” for vegetarians are here. In this post, I will mainly let my results speak for themselves, but I will also answer a few questions about RP. If you have specific questions, let me know — I am happy to share about my experience!